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When a trailer crushed Tony Johnson's foot during a work incident in 2004, it temporarily stole his ability to walk.

That took away his ability to work — and his ability to pay his rent.

Soon, with little saved up, Johnson, a 51-year old Vietnam-era vet, was homeless.

Johnson floated in and out of homeless shelters, on and off alcohol and drugs.

But another homeless veteran told him about the Supportive Housing Coalition, an Albuquerque group that helps New Mexicans get into and stay in affordable housing.

For a now-sober Johnson, who next spring starts training to be an alcohol and drug counselor himself, the program was a godsend. He has a one-bedroom apartment near San Pedro and Gibson boulevards Southeast — and a new approach to life, he said.

"With housing, a person can do what they've got to do; they've got a place to rest their head and ease their pain," Johnson said.

A bill approved by the U.S. House and pending in the Senate could help more people like Johnson by providing a larger stock of affordable houses.

The measure would create a National Housing Trust Fund to build, fix up or keep 1.5 million units of affordable housing across the country in the next 10 years.

Money for the program, which supporters hope reaches $5 billion, would come from the Federal Housing Administration and the private finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Sixty percent of the revenue from the trust would go to local jurisdictions while 40 percent would go to states or American Indian tribes. Those groups would have to apply for the money, which in turn would be granted to agencies or businesses that deal with affordable housing.

In New Mexico, Johnson is among the lucky: The coalition pays the majority of his $525 monthly rent.

But there are many more in need.

The state's 1st Congressional District — roughly the Albuquerque metropolitan area — could use another 12,000 homes for people deemed "extremely low income," or those who make 30 percent or less of the state's median income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In 2005, median income for a family of four was about $48,000.

Statewide, 32,165 more homes are needed for extremely low income families, the coalition estimates. That means that for every 100 extremely low income households, just 35 units are available and affordable.

Affordable is generally defined as costing no more than 30 percent of a person's income.

And of the 49,674 New Mexico households labeled as extremely low income, 71 percent are severely burdened by paying rent, meaning more than half their income goes to housing.

That's why supporters like Mark Allison, the executive director of the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico, have high hopes for the trust fund bill in the Senate.

"It's absolutely huge," Allison said. "It's the biggest piece of affordable housing legislation since 1974."

Members of the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign, a group of 5,600 organizations, have launched an initiative to pressure members of the Senate, including Sen. Pete Domenici, an Albuquerque Republican, to support the measure. A vote is expected sometime after Thanksgiving.

Members of the House, which approved the bill last month on a 264-148 vote, applaud the measure.

"The growing shortage of affordable housing is one of the most serious social and economic problems facing our country," said Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services said in a statement.

"Given our severely constrained fiscal realities, we are today doing the best we can to address this creating a low income housing trust fund that will be paid for in ways that do not draw from federal tax revenues," Frank said.

The bill has been a long time coming, advocates say.

"The federal government's commitment to affordable housing has really been waning since the '70s. At the same time, poverty rates have been increasing," Allison said.

Attention to housing has also increased, with the subprime mortgage lending industry in crisis and more Americans worried about making their monthly payments.

"It's not just homelessness, it's all the folks who are working and struggling to maintain housing," Allison said.

For Johnson, he's not sure how he would have made it through without the support of the coalition, which has about 350 clients and has helped 1,000 households beat homelessness in the past 10 years.

"If it wasn't for this program, I'd still be out there homeless," he said.